http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/n...104&content_id=909806&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp Would like ailing mother to see him enter Hall TOKYO -- Roger Clemens has been down this road before. During the 2003 World Series, he was about to retire and Game 4 at Miami for the New York Yankees was supposed to be his last start. Now, Games 1 and 5 of this year's Major League Baseball All-Star tour of Japan could be his last in a big league uniform. The reason, according to Clemens: his ailing mother. "My (step)father died when I was nine and my mother has emphysema," said Clemens, during Thursday's media conference at the Tokyo Dome on the eve of his Friday night start against the Nippon Professional All-Stars and Koji Uehara of the Yomiuri Giants. "Hopefully when I get a chance to be inducted into the Hall of Fame I won't be speaking to two empty chairs. I already know there's going to be one. As I keep playing I delay that occasion. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that she'll be healthy enough to see that day." Clemens made the decision to forsake retirement last winter and signed a one-year contract with his hometown Houston Astros. By doing so, he delayed the inevitable -- his eventual enshrinement into Cooperstown. Players have to wait five years after retiring to be placed on the ballot. With 328 wins and 4,317 strikeouts, Clemens is a certain candidate for election the first time around. But if he retires right now, that won't happen until 2009. Bess is 74 years old and has to carry an oxygen tank with her to breathe. Clemens said he is counting his blessings that his mother was around to see him record his 300th win and 4,000th strikeout on the same night last year for the Yankees. She was there this past July when Clemens started the All-Star Game for the National League at Houston's Minute Maid Park, and there again last month at home when Clemens started Game 3 of the NL Championship Series against the Cardinals. But Clemens knows there aren't any promises for tomorrow. That was illustrated on Thursday when he was introduced on the turf field at the Tokyo Dome to two wheelchair-confined patients suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. Bess was the first person who came to mind. "You're in these chairs and you have to hang tough," he told the patients. "My mother has emphysema and I've watched her hang tough." Later, he recalled the encounter to the media. "That's what I told the two people in wheelchairs I met," Clemens said. "My mother has emphysema and that will figure into my decision whether I retire or not." Clemens said after a golf tournament late last month that he is "99 percent" sure that he won't be back again next season. He'd be 43 before 2005 is out. He gave the same percentage last year, but the Astros wooed him out of retirement after close friend and former Yankees teammate Andy Pettitte left New York to sign with Houston as a free agent. Pettitte underwent surgery on his left elbow and was hardly a factor. Clemens produced what could be his seventh Cy Young Award-winning season. He was 18-4 with a 2.98 ERA and 218 strikeouts in 33 starts. Clemens said he's not sure if he can rev it up again to stay in the remarkable shape that, after 21 seasons, maintains his stature as a power pitcher. He may have revealed a telling clue on Thursday when he said he limbered up for his Japan starts by playing catch with his four boys. Clemens was also a member of the 1992 MLB All-Star team that toured Japan. That year he made two starts, allowing no runs on four hits while whiffing 15 Japanese All-Stars. Of course, Clemens reminded everyone, he was 30 years old back then. Clemens continues to defy the aging process, begging the question of whether this tour is really the end. "I'm still leaving the percentage point open," Clemens said. "I'm glad I did last year. I didn't realize the circumstances that were going to unfold with Andy coming home and the town turning out the way it did. Having looked back now I'm glad I played. It was fun seeing the National League and having the run we had late. It was really enjoyable for our city of Houston. "Now's not the appropriate time to decide my future. I'm just going to wait and see. I'm happy I'm here. I get to work two more times in Japan again and I'm looking forward to it."
http://msn.foxsports.com/story/3137986 Here is another article that seems Roger is might hang it up. TOKYO (AP) - Roger Clemens is still deciding whether to pitch again next season. "I'm very close to retirement," Clemens told reporters Friday. "Obviously, I haven't made the decision for the upcoming season yet." Clemens is in Japan for an eight-game tour with other major league stars. He was scheduled to start the opening game at Tokyo Dome on Friday. The 42-year-old Clemens won twice in the playoffs for Houston last month. He had a sixth-inning lead in Game 7 of the NL championship series at Busch Stadium but gave up a go-ahead homer to St. Louis' Scott Rolen and wound up with a season-ending loss. James Murray of Hendricks Sports Management is traveling with the six-time Cy Young Award winner and said Clemens plans to make a decision by January. The Rocket already called it quits once, after the 2003 season, then came out of a brief retirement to pitch for his hometown Astros in 2004.
When you have been pitching for 18 years one more year is "very close". I'm hoping that is what he meant.
Bargaining power boys and girls, bargaining. He may get a fat one year deal... At least that is my hope. DD
The money is irrelevant. Given the fact that Clemens is a guaranteed HOF'er, I wonder whether the Astros could petition MLB to waive the five-year rule? It would surely be to the benefit of the league for him to stick around, and pitch as long as his body and mind allow him to. http://espn.go.com/mlb/columns/neyer_rob/1470043.html The situation with his mother seeing him in to the HOF would be much less a concern. There would have to be some agreement that he could not return after enshrinement, but that would be a fairly moot point anyway.
MLB should make an agreement with Clemens, that he would still be HOF eligible in 3 years. It only helps the game. The rule as it stands is hurting the game more than it is helping it.
